Forgiveness & Love
by SethStriker
Summary: Lucy is forced to deal with the fact that Natsu is gone when he was killed trying to gain forgiveness from her. What happens when he suddenly shows up again? Read & Review! I do not own any of the characters, They belong to Hiro Mashima.


Lucy stared blankly at the grave stone in front of her, still having a hard time believing whose grave it belonged to. It read:

_Natsu Dragneel_

_Son of Igneel and a Fairy Tail mage_

The main reason she couldn't believe it was that it was her fault that this happened. She thought that Natsu was cheating on her when she saw Lissana trying to kiss him. Lucy decided to break up with him without letting him explain as well as saying a lot of hurtful things. A week later the guild received news that Natsu died while retrieving three of the Zodiac Keys (Say that Yukino never found the last Zodiac Spirits) and give it to Lucy along with a letter of apology with Natsu's blood.

The letter read:

_Dear Lucy, _

_By the time you read this I'll be gone and out of your life. I wished you gave me a chance to explain but when you didn't, I decided to try and get the last three keys to give to you as a way to say I'm sorry. I told Lissana that I was in love with you but she didn't take the news so well so she tried to make it look like I was cheating. I know that you will never forgive me and that you really hate me but I won't be alive after I retrieve the keys for you. I know that giving you these keys or me dying won't change your mind but I know you'll be happy that I'm gone and probably in hell._

_Goodbye Lucy. I love you. Always have, always will._

_Forever yours, Natsu_

Lucy dropped to the ground, holding the letter close to her heart with tears streaming down her face.

"Oh god no..." Lissana whispered.

As soon as Lucy heard Lissana speak she lunge at her and started to choke her.

"LUCY! STOP!" Mirajane and Erza yelled.

"NO! THIS BITCH CAUSED NATSU'S DEATH!" Lucy screamed out while her hands were on Lissana's neck.

Erza grabbed her friend's arms and managed to restrain her.

"Lucy stop! Choking Lissana won't bring Natsu back! Also, don't think she's all to blame!" Erza yelled out, hoping that will make the celestial mage stop. After a minutes of trashing, Lucy started to cry her heart out, while Erza hugged her.

Mirajane walked to her little sister and started to scold her.

"Lissana, I'm very disappointed at what you have done. I know that you love Natsu, but that doesn't mean you can try to separate him from the one he really loves." Mirajane said in a serious tone.

"I know! I'm sorry! I didn't want this to happen!" She admitted.

"So you admit that your at fault?" Makarov said while walking up to her.

"Yes Master."

"Lissana, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to expel you from Fairy Tail for doing such a horrible thing. But I will allow you to visit."

"Okay. I accept my punishment." The white mage said as she looked at Lucy with guilt.

Natsu's body was never found in the four years that this gravestone was built but his scarf was recovered by search and rescue along with the letter &amp; keys and given to Lucy. She wore the scarf every day with her usual attire. After staring at the tombstone she started leaving Kardia Cathedral to go home since it was getting late. She took one last look at Natsu's grave before heading home.

After arriving home she changed into her pjs and slid under her blankets with Natsu's scarf still wrapped around her neck. She would always inhale Natsu's fading scent before singing while crying herself to sleep.

Anata no inai tsukue wo natete  
Kage wo otosu kyou wo mou hitori  
Hoshizora miage inori wo kakete  
Anata wa onaji ima sora no shita

Namida kodayafurueru toki no  
Yami ni kujikesou na toki demo  
Wasurenaide  
Kaeru bashou ga  
Kaeru bashou ga aru kara

Matteiru hito ga iru kara

Lucy finished with tears escaping. She said so many hurtful things to Natsu. She wouldn't give him a chance to explain. And the worst part of it is that she was about to leave the guild forever thinking that Natsu was cheating. Lucy felt so guilty that she shut herself from everybody at the guild and went on solo missions all the time. She thought about what happened and fell asleep wishing that she could take it all back.

"Natsu…I'm sorry…" She said before drifting off into a world of dreams. Dreams about Natsu…

Natsu was at Cardia Cathedral, looking at his own grave. He wasn't surprised that his nakama made it. But what did surprised him was that Lucy placed a plaque that stated how sorry she was for the way she acted and that she forgave him while asking forgiveness as well.

"Lucy...you..." Natsu stopped as he was at a lost for words. He decided to see her and ran to the apartment as fast as he could.

When Lucy woke up, she expected to see Natsu in her bed again. But reality slapped her in the face as she realized that he was gone forever.

"Why did I have to be such a bitch to him?" She asked herself.

She got off the bed but didn't want to get up. But she knew that she had to pay rent so she went into the shower and got herself ready to go to the guild. After showering and getting dressed, she started to head out but was stopped when her door opened. She expected the landlady since she would check on her every morning but her browns eyes met onyx ones and started tearing up when she saw who it was.

"Hi, Lucy." He whispered.

Without a second thought, Lucy enveloped Natsu in a tight hug.

"Please tell me this is real, that this isn't another dream." She whimpered into his ear.

Natsu smiled guiltily and hugged her back. "This is real."

Lucy shoved her face into his chest and sobs could be heard mixed with mumbling.

"What was that?"

"I said," She paused to look into his eyes before continuing.

"Don't ever do that again!"

"Lucy I-"

"Please Natsu! Please! I'm begging you!" She pleaded.

"Okay Lucy." Natsu said as he held her tight in his arms.

"Do you know how worried, hurt, and devastated I was when I got that letter with your blood on it? And do you know how much I cried at your funeral?" She asked in a sad tone. Natsu's eyes widened in shock. Her words were sweet and sincere yet sad.

"I'm sorry Natsu! I should have let you explained! I shouldn't have said all those hurtful things to you! And because of me, you've been gone for four years! I'm sorry Natsu! I'm so very sorry!" She exclaimed.

"It's okay Lu-"

"No it Isn't! I drove you away! I didn't gave you a second chance! I made you think I wanted you dead and gone out of my life! And most of all, I said that I hated you! How can you just say that it's okay?! How can you-" She couldn't finished. Natsu's lips were pressing against her soft ones so she couldn't help but kiss him back. He broke the kiss to speak.

"Lucy. It is okay. It's like I said in my letter, I love you. Always have, always will." He said before kissing Lucy again. This time she broke the kiss.

"Even so, I still need to apologize. I said a lot of things that I could never take back. I acted so cruel to you. I'm sorry Natsu. "

"Okay Lucy." He smiled and wiped her tears.

"But one thing though, where have you been this whole time?"

"In a village three hours from here." Natsu said while frowning. Lucy then pulled Natsu and made him sit on her bed, while her head rested on his shoulder.

"I thought you might wanna sit down."

Natsu smiled at her, thinking about how cute she was.

"Where you able to get the letter and keys?" He asked.

"Yes, but please tell me why you've been staying at a village instead of coming back home." She felt stupid asking, knowing that he might have stayed because of her.

"While retrieving the three keys, I fought this golem that was guarding them. I managed to beat him and get the keys, but the cave that I was in collapse and trapped me for days. A few miners found me and took me to their village. I woke up not remembering anything because I was hit in the head hard. The chief said that I should have died but was lucky to be alive. I told him that I didn't remember anything except that I was supposed to give the keys to someone. He said that I can stay until I remembered who I was under the name Ryo. I worked with the miners that saved me and they helped me try to restore my memories. After four years, I was able to get all my memories back. At first I was scared to come back because I remembered how you said that you would never forgive me and that you hated me, but the chief convinced me to go back home. And so here I am."

"Why didn't you show them your guild mark? That should have made it obvious that you were a part of Fairy Tail."

Natsu frowned at this question. He got off the bed and showed Lucy that most of his guild mark was gone. The only thing that was left was the wing part of it. Lucy rubbed his arm gently and looked at Natsu.

"It's okay Natsu. I'm just happy your home and alive."

"It's good to be home Lucy. But I still need to know one thing."

"What's that?"

"Do you still love me?"

"Natsu, of course I love you. Natsu I should be asking that."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't give you a chance to explain the situation. I said a lot of things that I can't take back no matter what I do. And because of what I said, you were convinced that dying would make me happy."

"Well, did it?"

"No! Of course not! Natsu, I didn't want you to die! You dying would never make me happy! I've had a lot of deaths in my life already. Please don't ever think like that again!"

"I won't Lucy. I promise you." Natsu said as he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull Lucy in for another kiss. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck to return his kiss. The two broke apart after a while and stared into each others eyes until Lucy decided to speak.

"I really missed you Natsu."

"Me too Lucy." He said while stroking her soft blonde hair.

"Lucy?"

"Yes Natsu?"

"If something like that happens again, will you promise me that you won't make the same mistake twice and give me a chance to explain the situation?" Natsu asked with concerned eyes.

"Yes. If something like that happens again I will let you explain. I won't make the same mistake again Natsu. I promise you."

With that Natsu leans in to kiss her again, with Lucy happily kissing him back. After a few minutes they broke for air, and looked into each other eyes .

"I love you, Lucy."

"I love you too, Natsu."

They went to the guild, hand in hand, knowing that they had a lot to explain to the guild once they got there.


End file.
